February 26, 2013 - News Leader

CHAMBER ASKS FOR MORE MONEYChamber of Commerce President Brenda Crawford and Visitor Centre Manager Lori Thomas attended the February 18 Town Council meeting to report on the Chamber's activities in 2012 and to ask for an increase in funding from the Town. The Chamber received $25,000 last year and is looking for an additional $10,000 this year. Crawford told Council a grant was received last year from the provincial government for upgrades to the Visitor Centre. The rock garden was revamped, picnic tables were built to make them wheelchair accessible. Lori Thomas reported numbers were down by one percent last year, better than the provincial average which dropped six percent. There were an average of 4.2 parties daily over the year, with a total of 18,880 visitors in 2012. There were a lot of phone inquiries about Princeton, particularly about the mine, by people thinking of moving to Princeton. Crawford told Council, "In order to move forward, we (Chamber) must be seen as separate from the Visitor Centre. The previous contract with the Town focused on the Visitor Centre." Councillor Marilyn Harkness stated, after reviewing documents submitted to Council, "You should have included revenue as well as expenses." Mayor Frank Armitage told Crawford many communities have a hotel room tax to cover the cost of the Chamber of Commerce. He advised Crawford that Princeton has the highest grant in aid per capita of any community in B.C. Crawford complained to Town Council that a valley-wide tourist guide will take the place of a Princeton guide and the Chamber of Commerce was told nothing about this. Mayor Armitage answered the complain by stating the Tourist Advisory Council for the valley received support from all members for a valley-wide tourist guide. The Chamber of Commerce will enter into negotiations with Town Council regarding a new contract for service.

LALI RESPONDS TO HEALTH PROBLEMSMLA Harry Lali was in Princeton recently, and gave the News Leader the opportunity to discuss health care with him. The News Leader referred to negligence of the elderly in residential care as exposed on the television inquiry program W5, and a discussion of private health care on 16 X 9, which talked about how the BC government fast-tracks police, Workers Compensation patients and prisoners through a private hospital and pays the bills. Lali responded by saying there is no accountability in our health care system. "People complain to the government and they say they give money to IHA to run the health care in our area. People complain to IHA and are told the government doesn't give them enough money. Nobody is accountable." In addition to pointing out this 'pass the buck' technique, Lali stated there should be elected officials on health boards who will be accountable to those who elected them. "As long as there are no elected officials involved in health care, we will continue to see this erosion of services to rural communities."

COUNCIL ADOPTS NEW TRAFFIC LAWAt the February 18 Town Council meeting, Council gave first, second and third reading of the new traffic and parking bylaw amendment. This document covers everything from who can park where to cleaning sidewalks and fines for not abiding by the law. At the end of the meeting, during question period, a local businessman asked Council why it had not addressed the issue of business owners and their employees parking all day in front of their businesses and discouraging customer parking. He noted there is plenty of parking space available off the main streets. Council suggested this could be a whole new bylaw and worth consideration.

Mayor Armitage Shows His Support!

Photo: Dawn Johnson

Town of Princeton Mayor Frank Armitage showed up for the February 18th regular meeting of Town Council wearing his Princeton Posse hockey jersey. At the time the KIJHL Junior B team was about to embark on the first round of playoffs in their division and Armitage used the opportunity to remind area residents to support the local team.

Learn About The Skating Club!

February 19, 2013 - News Leader

BOARD HEARS SCHOOL ACTIVITY REPORTBarry Clark, Principal of Vermilion Forks and John Allison Elementary Schools, attended the February 13 meeting of the Board of Education for School District #58 (Nicola-Similkameen). He began his school activity update by giving out foil-wrapped chocolate hearts to celebrate Valentine's Day, saying the following day would be a big day at both schools. Clark outlined an amazing number of school activities in progress at both schools. There are a number of literacy projects at both schools, and an iPad project. Bricks for Kids is a project using lego blocks to learn about how to build structures. Strong Start, another project, involves youngsters in a variety of learning experiences which include field trips. They have been to the pumpkin patch and to Merritt. Bannock Days is a cultural program in which a guest speaker comes from Hedley to talk about First Nations culture, and older students learn how to make bannock. At Vermilion Forks Elementary School, Curl BC is coming to teach students how to curl using curling rocks on ball bearings in the gym. "The Queen's Test" is a student drama production which will be performed at John Allison Elementary. The junior band is going to Kelowna to see Peter and the Wolf, an important musical learning experience. Students will be involved in Pink Day on February 27, a day for reinforcing the principles of anti-bullying, and they will be learning about the Rights of the Child as prescribed by the United Nations. Some of the students are learning yoga. The singing group, Flash Mob, enjoyed surprising shoppers at Cooper¹s Foods one day, beginning with one singer in the produce section who drew the remaining singers to join in the song until all were singing. All of these activities are in addition to the regular curriculum and are integrated into a broad range of studies.

LEGION LADIES PLAN FOR WEEKENDMembers of Princeton Legion Ladies Auxiliary met February 12 at the Legion Hall to make the final plans for this weekend, February 23 and 24. Auxiliary members will be catering two events, the Saturday evening spaghetti dinner and the Legion Zone meeting lunch on Sunday. The spaghetti dinner is a fund raiser for the Auxiliary bursary fund. Members anticipated dinner for 70, but there are still some tickets. Tickets remain on sale until Wednesday afternoon. Work parties were arranged to do the shopping for the weekend, make the meatballs, sauce, and salad, prepare the very special door prize, the music and clean the hall after the dinner. On Sunday morning, another crew will make soup and sandwiches for the Zone lunch. This is quite a busy weekend. There was a good turnout to the monthly Auxiliary meeting. The ladies were pleased to hear another new member, Crystal Alstad, is transferring in, and will add to new member Ruth Ferguson, who was installed at the January meeting. Members are proposing the purchase of a new cooler for the kitchen. One of adequate size is very expensive, and they hope to split the cost with the Legion. Jean Lindsay was presented with her 40 year pin, and Gail Madill received her five year pin. The next meeting will be on the regular date, March 12, but there was a change for May due to the provincial election using the Legion Hall on May 14. The new date for that month is May 7. The customary tea and goodies were served following the meeting, and members continued their discussion of plans for the upcoming weekend.

The Never Ending Project!

Copyright 2013 Bengel Publishing Inc.

The most recent work done to the zigzag project in downtown Princeton was on February 14th when hand rails were installed. Although access has been blocked as it is not officially open to the public, that hasn't stopped a few who have taken the climb from downtown up to the First Bench. The project was originally only going to take eight weeks to complete but a number of hurdles appeared as work started last Summer.

Princeton Posse School Skate!

February 12, 2013 - News Leader

COUNCIL DITCHES ACCOUNT SUMMARIESTown Council will no longer receive a monthly accounts summary of all invoices paid by the Town at regular Council meetings. A policy adopted in 1991 by then-Mayor John Rubis and co-signed by then-Alderman Betty Pilon, stated 'bills and accounts for payment will be approved monthly prior to the second regular council meeting of the month.' The second part of the policy says, 'a listing of the approved bills and accounts to be included and made part of the second regular council meeting agenda.' "This practice is outdated and no longer necessary," states Interim CAO Robert Wilson in his report to Council. Wilson recommended removing the requirement of having monthly invoices received at regular Council meetings."The Mayor does review some of the significant invoices. Expenditures are set out in the adopted Financial Plan and reviewed quarterly by Council as a whole," Wilson adds. He also points out there are financial controls within Council's Purchasing Policy which establishes department spending limits.

TOWN TO INCREASE SEWER RATESThe Town of Princeton Sewer Rates & Regulations Amendment Bylaw (No. 868, 2013) was given three readings at the February 4th regular meeting of Town Council. The motion to proceed with the readings was made by Councillor Jason Earle and seconded by Councilor Doug Pateman. The purpose of the bylaw amendment is to provide rate increases of 5%. The Town sends utility bills consisting of Water and Sewer charges to each property owner early each year with sewer charges designed to cover the cost of operations and create a reserve for the replacement of aging infrastructure. "The increase of 5% provides for costs that have increased due to inflation as well as a greater contribution to our reserves in anticipation of the planned desludging of Cell 1 at our treatment plant in 2016," explains Deputy Treasurer/Collector Shirley McMahon in her report to Council. "In 2013 we will rebuild the Ponderosa Lift Station and continue implementing the SCADA system. These projects are funded through a combination of gas tax and reserve funds." Upgrades to the aeration system and fencing at the sewage treatment plant costing $337,511.00 are also planned for this year. Those costs are fully funded through the Federal Gas Tax Regionally Significant Projects program. Sewer rates were last increased by 2% in 2010. The amended bylaw still requires adoption, which will likely take place at the next Town Council meeting.

Mayor Armitage Receives Jubilee Medal!

Copyright 2013 Bengel Publishing Inc.

Town of Princeton Mayor Frank Armitage, right, was presented with a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal at the start of the February 4th regular meeting of Town Council by Councillor Doug Pateman, left. Armitage was selected by the FCM (Federation of Canadian Municipalities) in honour of the contributions he has made to the community and country. "FCM chose you to receive this distinction for your exemplary efforts to make your community a great place to live," explains Karen Leibovici, FCM President and Councillor, City of Edmonton. "It recognizes the important role municipalities ­ and their elected officials ­ play in ensuring our prosperity and high quality of life. The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal honours significant contributions and achievements by Canadians. During the year of celebrations, 60,000 deserving Canadians will be recognized. The 'jubilee medal,' as it's commonly called, was created by the Government of Canada to mark Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II¹s 60 years of service to the country.

FortisBC PowerSense Visits Arena!

Copyright 2013 Bengel Publishing Inc.

FortisBC PowerSense Ambassadors Shayna and Richard attended the February 5th Princeton Posse game at Princeton Arena. They quizzed hockey fans on their energy saving knowledge and gave away a lot of cool PowerSense products ranging from tubes of caulk to weather stripping supplies.

February 05, 2013 - News Leader

CONSULTATION PRODUCES RESULTSThe Town of Princeton, Area H (RDOS), Interior Health Authority and Save Our Hospital Coalition organized a Princeton Healthcare Community Consultation, which took place January 29th at Riverside Centre. This was not a public meeting but it included 40 invited guests representing a cross section of ages, cultural interests along with elected officials, corporate and industry representatives from throughout the Similkameen Valley and a few from outside the immediate area. Dr. Barbara Pesut from UBC-Okanagan conducted the consultation with IHA's Susan Brown, Town of Princeton¹s Marilyn Harness, Area H Director Brad Hope and SOHC's Ed Staples and Nienke Klaver filling key roles during the evening. The group was split into four focus groups. Each focus group had a facilitator, including Alisha Zacharias the resource coordinator from the Rural Health Services Research Network of BC, and someone recording information being shared. The idea for last Tuesday night's Community Consultation came from a meeting during the recent Kelowna Healthcare Research Conference where Staples and Klaver met Dr. Pesut and Zacharias. Each focus group was to examine three category questions. The first one was to share a positive example of an incident experienced in the local healthcare system. The second was to share hurdles visible in the local healthcare system. The final question asked for ideas and suggestions that could produce forward movement in fixing or improving local healthcare services. Following the consultation, all recorders from the focus groups brought together the information then all 40 stakeholders voted on priorities using the common 'sticker vote' method. "We feel incredibly optimistic that this process we've been through has brought us many positive items we can now focus on," Staples said in a news briefing the following day. Staples added that a lot of positive aspects of the community were revealed during the consultation process and that it was agreed by all that, "we have an incredible team of healthcare professionals in town delivering services to the community." However, challenges and barriers will need to be identified and Staples expects that to be a part of a forthcoming report on the data collected by Dr. Pesut and her colleagues. "We hope we are going to have priorities identified," Staples says. There are also plans for a smaller scale consultation with local healthcare service providers, which will be the basis of a completely different report. "Most of us are feeling quite positive about going forward," Councillor Marilyn Harkness added. "I know the community is looking for a quick fix, and this will take time but we are very hopeful." Area H Director Brad Hope explained that "when things go wrong I always hear about it, but when things go good I rarely hear about it." He added, "We don't have 24/7, we have a doctor shortage and that needs to be fixed and it will be fixed." Some innovative ideas came out of the consultation including the possibility of a bus service to address transportation concerns, which could, for example, pick up patients along the way to appointments in Penticton or Kelowna. There are other programs being discussed to attract doctors but apparently there aren't a lot of doctors looking for work and even Princeton's newest physician coming in August would like to be here sooner but has other commitments according to Staples. Another idea Harkness added was to "broaden the scope of Nurse Practitioners practice so that they can work in the ER." Dr. Pesut's report is expected to be a lengthy one and we expect SOHC will let you know what it says once they have a chance to see it and absorb the details.

FUN DAY SET FOR FAMILY DAYChina Ridge Trails and Town of Princeton Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services wishes to extend an invitation to Princeton, RDOS Electoral Area H and Similkameen Valley residents to the Similkameen 'Fun In The Snow Day' on February 11th celebrating BC Family Day at China Ridge from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. The Similkameen 'Fun In The Snow Day' at China Ridge is a time to enjoy an outdoor recreational experience that individuals and families can do in their own backyard. Everyone is welcome to try snowshoeing, cross country skiing, bringing a sleigh for the luge run and sleighing hill, participate in the Sogo Active winter challenges with students from PSS and enjoying a hot meal with drink (bring a mug) while on the mountain at China Ridge. A free bus service is available for all ages on February 11 with stops at Veterans (Town) Square, Vermilion Forks School and the Bowling Alley to the venue at China Ridge Trails. This bus service will continue each hour from 9:30 AM to 2:00 PM.

ZigZag Project...Continues!

Copyright 2013 Bengel Publishing Inc.

What was supposed to be an eight-week project last summer ended up taking far longer than expected due to a few hidden obstacles. The most recent action on the zigzag project took place February 2nd - Groundhog Day - with the completion of the stairway at the foot of Billiter Avenue. Handrails were also delivered to the site.

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